Quin Hillyer asks if Republicans have lost their minds. “I am absolutely flabbergasted at what I see in the latest Republican polls for president. What I see looks like a mass political suicide attempt — so determined to commit suicide that it uses too many pills, plus a slit wrist, plus a gun, on the ledge of a 1,000-foot building, just to make sure that at least one of the methods succeeds. What I’m talking about is the rise of Newt Gingrich to the front of the Republican pack. If this isn’t mass suicide, [it’s] mass amnesia of a particularly dangerous variety. And, politically speaking, if it continues it will be an absolute guarantee of Barack Obama’s re-election next Fall.”

With his telltale lack of organization Gingrich has lost the chance to compete in Missouri. “Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is the only major Republican presidential candidate not to file for Missouri’s primary, according to the secretary of state’s office.”

Liberal pundits seem to have lost the battle to blame the GOP for the collapse of the supercommittee. “A majority of Americans (55%) believe Republicans and Democrats on the U.S. debt ‘supercommittee’ are equally to blame for its inability to reach an agreement.” All that spin for so little impact.

The left has lost all control of the narrative if Ron Fournier doesn’t agree with the approved spin. “Shame on Republicans for a stubborn unwillingness to seriously consider tax increases. Shame on Democrats for keeping a closed mind to significant benefit cuts. And shame on President Obama for standing idly by as Washington failed again to get the country’s fiscal house in order.”

Peter Wehner says Gingrich has lost too little of his “old Newt.” On his attack on the Congressional Budget Office, Wehner explains: “It has a long history of annoying the proponents of legislation that it analyzes, whether it be Democrats or Republicans, regardless of who is appointed the director. As far as agencies in Washington go, it’s among the more impressive ones. We’re better with it than without it. All of which make Gingrich’s comments unfair (as well as somewhat odd). They’re evidence of a quality that’s familiar to anyone who has watched Gingrich over the years — the intentionally provocative language, the imprecision and recklessness of the charge, and the need to frame matters on which reasonable people might disagree as children of light v. children of darkness.” Besides, why didn’t Gingrich abolish the CBO when he was speaker?

President Obama has lost the pretense of standing up for the people who “work hard and play by the rules.” The president fawns in New Hampshire over the Occupy crowd: “You are the reason I ran for office.”

If Obama has lost the rubber stamp at the American Bar Association, he’s really struck out on judicial nominations. “The American Bar Association has secretly declared a significant number of President Obama’s potential judicial nominees ‘not qualified,’ slowing White House efforts to fill vacant judgeships — and nearly all of the prospects given poor ratings were women or members of a minority group, according to interviews.” Gotta love the left-leaning group’s penchant for secrecy.

Glenn Hubbard says we haven’t lost the opportunity to control spending. “The obvious place to begin is repealing ObamaCare and its expansion of spending. Programs like the federal Community Development Fund, which should fall under state and local or private responsibilities, can be axed. So can intercity and high-speed rail grants, which lack plans to make rail competitive, and duplicative education programs. We should also let states experiment with alternatives to our current one-size-fits-all federal solution. The best example is Medicaid, which should be converted into a block grant. . . . The federal work force can shrink through attrition, and employee compensation can be adjusted to private levels.” Read the whole thing.

Jennifer Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for The Post, offering reported opinion from a conservative perspective.

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